KEF, Alm.del - 2019-20 - Bilag 479: Breve fra udvalgsformand Rasmus Helveg Petersen til EU-kommissærerne Frans Timmermans og Kadri Simson om KEF-udvalgets refleksioner om Kommissionens strategi for offshore energi.

Klima-, Energi- og Forsyningsudvalget 2019-20
KEF Alm.del Bilag 479
Offentligt

Frans Timmermans

Executive Vice-President

Rue de la Loi 200

1049 Brussels

Reflections from the Committee on Climate, Energy

and Utilities of the Danish Parliament on the

forthcoming strategy on offshore energy.

Letter to Executive Vice-President Frans Timmermans

22 June 2020

Dear Mr. Timmermans,

The Committee on Climate, Energy and Utilities of the Danish Parliament

would like to express its strongest support for the European Green Deal and

the Commission’s intention to have the transition to a climate-neutral

econ-

omy at the

core of EU’s recovery plan after the covid-19

pandemic.

The Commission's priorities correspond well with Denmark’s ambitious cli-

mate policy including the targets of reaching 70 percent reduction of green-

house gas emissions by 2030 and climate neutrality by 2050. For the commit-

tee, it is vital that the EU takes global lead in order to meet the objectives of

the Paris Agreement.

With this letter, the committee would like to draw your attention to the role of

offshore energy in reaching the EU’s climate targets,

in particular the im-

portance of modelling the costs of offshore wind.

The Committee has noted that offshore wind is set to play a major role in

reaching the EU’s climate targets. In a report from 2018, the European Com-

mission has estimated that Europe needs between 200 and 450 GW of off-

shore wind by 2050 in order to realize the aim of climate neutrality.

In other words, the Committee identifies offshore wind as a crucial pillar in the

energy mix of even more EU Member States than today. This demand could

be driven by PtX technologies, which could help decarbonize sectors such as

heavy transport and heavy industry. The Committee notes that The North

Seas Energy Cooperation could play an important role coordinating this ex-

pansion, as it relates to issues like maritime spatial planning, coordination of

tenders and identifying regulatory barriers.

J.nr.: 20-000458-2

Danish Parliament

Christiansborg

1240 Copenhagen K

+45 3337 5500

[email protected]

www.ft.dk

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KEF, Alm.del - 2019-20 - Bilag 479: Breve fra udvalgsformand Rasmus Helveg Petersen til EU-kommissærerne Frans Timmermans og Kadri Simson om KEF-udvalgets refleksioner om Kommissionens strategi for offshore energi.

As a global leader in the field of offshore wind, the Committee finds Denmark

in a position to expand the offshore wind capacity significantly. The Commit-

tee sees a great potential in the expansion of offshore wind, which will help

ensure that 55 percent of the nation’s energy demand is covered by renewa-

ble energy by 2030.

The Danish Government has recently published the first initiatives in an up-

coming climate plan, which included two energy islands, ushering in a new

era for offshore wind energy in Europe. The Committee notes that while off-

shore wind farms traditionally have been built as individual non-connected

entities, energy islands can serve as a hub for electricity generation for the

surrounding wind farms as well. This could be done by collecting and distrib-

uting the electricity between countries connected by an electricity grid. En-

ergy islands could help Denmark lower both national and EU-wide emissions,

when increasing export of renewable electricity to other countries both in the

North Sea and in the Baltic Sea. For the Committee, this reaffirms the im-

portance of modelling the costs of offshore wind for the EU overall.

Modelling costs of offshore wind

In recent years, we have seen that many low and zero emission technologies

have matured and become cost-effective at a rapid pace, which has trans-

formed the business case for investing in low and zero emission technolo-

gies. This is also the conclusion of

for example the IEA’s Wind Energy Out-

look 2019 that in addition expects further significant cost reduction of offshore

wind energy.

For the Committee, it is therefore vital that the Commission ensures the inclu-

sion of these developments in scenario analyses by continuously and sys-

tematically updating the modelling assumptions to reflect recent develop-

ments in costs and technological advances. If the relative costs of clean tech-

nologies and conventional technologies are not accurately reflected in sce-

nario analyses, we risk sidelining technologies that otherwise could deliver

better solutions for the green transition.

The Committee finds it positive that the Commission has taken initial steps to

address this issue by initiating the development of e.g. the new POTEnCIA-

model. The open and inclusive approach taken by the Commission holds

great potential for the future modelling in the EU.

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The Committee encourages the Commission to consider these recommenda-

tions, as it prepares to present a strategy for offshore energy in the fourth

quarter of 2020.

Yours Sincerely,

Rasmus Helveg Petersen

Chair of the Committee on Climate, Energy and Utilities

The Danish Parliament

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